ReadWrite - Reddithttp://readwrite.com/tag/Reddit
enCopyright 2015 Wearable World Inc.http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssTue, 31 Mar 2015 13:47:24 -0700Reddit Interim CEO Ellen Pao: A Rare Instance Of A Woman Running A Tech Company<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01bf930f200199de" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI1OTgxMDA3MjIzNDY2NjI3.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Amid the hoopla over the <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/reddit-chief-executive-resigns-as-company-shuffles-top-ranks/?_r=0">defenestration of Reddit CEO Yishan Wong</a>, few noticed that the social news site did something else really interesting: It named a woman as its interim CEO, one who seems to have a good chance of holding the job permanently.</p><p>That would be Ellen Pao, whose last news moment came when she <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/ELLEN-PAO-S-LAWYER-Kleiner-Perkins-Just-Fired-3916859.php">sued&nbsp;venerable venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 2012</a>&nbsp;for&nbsp;sexual discrimination. The lawsuit, which is still pending, put a spotlight on gender bias in the male-dominated tech industry.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/10/14/building-the-front-page-of-the-internet-reddits-alexis-ohanian">Building The Front Page Of The Internet: Reddit's Alexis Ohanian</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Pao joined Reddit, which is currently owned by Conde Nast parent company Advance Publications, as a brand strategist in 2013.&nbsp;During her brief tenure, Pao helmed Reddit's long-awaited move into mobile. Reddit first attempted building a potentially lucrative platform for ad sales in 2011 with an&nbsp;&nbsp;app so glitchy it was eventually pulled.&nbsp;Under Pao, Reddit's mobile team launched two successful apps for iOS and Android.</p><p>Pao's ascent is remarkable in Silicon Valley, where most women have better odds of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/oct/19/silicon-valley-egg-freezing-perks-hiring-women">getting their employer to freeze their eggs</a> than of being named CEO. As interim leader, Pao now runs of one of the most popular properties on the Internet, home to&nbsp;174 million audience and recent recipient of $50 million in Silicon Valley funding.&nbsp;And it's a striking statement at Reddit, <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/02/celebrity-photo-leak-apple-icloud-victim-blaming-slut-shaming">home of The Fappening</a>—a now-shuttered "subreddit" focused on the sharing of celebrity nudes in the wake of <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/02/celebrity-photo-leak-apple-icloud-victim-blaming-slut-shaming">Apple's iCloud leak</a>—and <a href="http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web">a host of "jailbait" forums </a>dedicated to sexual photos of females who appear to be underage.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/02/celebrity-photo-leak-apple-icloud-victim-blaming-slut-shaming">For Once, The Entire Internet Isn't Blaming The Victims Of This Nude Celebrity Photo Leak</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Pao's diplomas are as impressive as her career. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she is also a Harvard Business School MBA and holds a degree in electrical engineering from Princeton. She worked at a number of Silicon Valley businesses prior to her seven-year career at&nbsp;Kleiner Perkins.</p><p>Helming Reddit's mobile team, Pao oversaw Reddit's canny push into mainstream by simplifying its most popular forum via the official Reddit Ask Me Anything app. The AMA forum, a crowd-sourced Q&amp;A which has featured luminaries such as President Barack Obama, Bill Gates and a host of celebrities.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/24/how-to-host-a-reddit-ama">How To Host A Reddit AMA</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Pao also oversaw the acquisition and rebranding of Alien Blue, the most popular third-party Reddit app for iOS, now available for iOS and Android.</p><h2>Bolstering Silicon Valley's Female Elite</h2><p>As Reddit's interim CEO, Pao joins—temporarily or not—the minority of female CEOs in Silicon Valley. Despite the visibility of Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, women executives remain rare.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/10/09/nadella-women-dont-ask-for-raise">Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Women: Don't Ask For A Raise, Trust Karma</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>More than 45% of Silicon Valley companies have no women among its top employees, <a href="http://www.fenwick.com/FenwickDocuments/Gender_Diversity_Survey_2013_Proxy_Season_Results.pdf">according to a study by&nbsp;law firm Fenwick &amp; West</a>. Other exceptions include Hewlett-Packard CEO&nbsp;Meg Whitman; the CEO of Google-owned YouTube, Susan Wojcicki; and Ramona&nbsp;Pierson,&nbsp;CEO and co-founder of social learning startup Declara.&nbsp;</p><p>Installing Pao as interim CEO with a strong possibility of becoming permanent sends a strong message not just to investors and advertisers, but also to the Reddit community. Pao's successful mobile push indicates business acumen and organization the for-profit company previously appeared to lack. Her role in making gender inequity and sexual harassment a talking point in Silicon Valley—whether desired or not—may signal a future Reddit less friendly to creepshots and other investor-repelling content.</p><p><em>Lead image courtesy of Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers</em></p>Make room, Marissa and Meg.http://readwrite.com/2014/11/14/reddit-ceo-ellen-pao-women
http://readwrite.com/2014/11/14/reddit-ceo-ellen-pao-womenSocialFri, 14 Nov 2014 14:52:21 -0800Helen A.S. PopkinReddit Makes Crowdfunding Official With Redditmade<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b7298a66f5860e" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIxNDI3Mjk1MjY5MTI3Njkz.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>So far, Reddit’s business model has been to provide the tools while users do the rest. This pattern continues with <a href="https://redditmade.com/">Redditmade</a>, the company’s first foray into crowdfunding. </p><p>“Redditmade gives you the flexibility to create almost anything you want, easily raise money, and support causes you care about,” wrote Kaela Worthen Gardner, marketing manager at Reddit, in the Redditmade <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/2knh96/announcing_redditmade_a_new_way_to_celebrate_your/">official introductory post</a>. “It’s also a great way for others to find awesome new products they’ll love and support other redditors while knowing their information and money will always be secure.”</p><p>Redditors already donate enormously <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/society/reddit-charity-alexis-ohanian-list/">to charity</a> and buy and sell merchandise through community-driven efforts on subreddits—the sub-communities of the site. The difference with Redditmade is that users can protect their privacy in ways that third-party crowdfunding and charity sites don’t always permit. </p><p>“We will never show your personal information to anyone. We take doxxing seriously! If you create a campaign, you will be asked to connect your Reddit account with your Redditmade account and your username is what will be displayed,” Gardner wrote. “When you purchase a product, no one will ever see your personal information aside from payment/shipping providers in order to actually get you your product.”</p><p><a href="https://redditmade.com/browse">Currently active campaigns</a> on Redditmade consist mainly of T-shirts with inside jokes that pertain to different subreddits. So far, the one closest to reaching its goal, the <a href="https://redditmade.com/campaign/reddit-secret-santa-sticker-pack">Reddit Secret Santa Sticker Pack</a>, is at 5%. It's a charity project that will donate the entirety of its earnings to the <a href="http://www.redditblog.com/2014/02/decimating-our-ads-revenue.html">winning Reddit charity</a>, and since Redditmade has it listed as a "Featured Campaign," you can tell it's legit.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/30/reddit-rasies-50-million">Reddit Raises $50 Million, Says Community Will Get Some Shares</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Reddit raised $50 million at a $500 million valuation last month and Redditmade comes as an effort to expand Reddit’s oeuvre as it expands its value and influence. Even with five billion monthly page views, the “front page of the Internet” still isn’t profitable. This could help.</p>The money was already there.http://readwrite.com/2014/10/29/reddit-redditmade-crowdfunding
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/29/reddit-redditmade-crowdfundingSocialWed, 29 Oct 2014 06:52:22 -0700Lauren OrsiniDropbox Denies 7M Password Leak, Says Stolen Logins Are From Other Sites<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b27fe220016d19" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAwNzQ3OTk1MDQ5MjQx.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>On Monday, a Reddit thread surfaced with <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/10/14/dropbox-passwords-leak-online-alleged-hack/">links to Pastebin files containing a slew of Dropbox logins</a>. And, said the hacker, there’s plenty more where that came from—roughly 7 million compromised accounts in total.&nbsp;</p><p>The initial leaks came to hundreds of unencrypted Dropbox usernames and passwords, all available&nbsp;in plain text. The anonymous perpetrator claimed this was just a taste of the voluminous hack and promised to leak more in exchange for bitcoin “donations.” The top of one of the Pastebin files reads:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>6,937,081 DROPBOX ACCOUNTS HACKED</p><p>PHOTOS - VIDEOS - OTHER FILES</p><p>MORE BITCOIN = MORE ACCOUNTS PUBLISHED ON PASTEBIN</p><p>As more BTC is donated , More pastebin pastes will appear</p></blockquote><p>At this time, the source of the data is unknown.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/04/20/how-to-guard-yourself-against-heartbleed-step-by-step">Heartbleed Defense: The 3-Step Password Strategy Everyone Should Use</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Although 7 million accounts only comes to about 3% of the <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/dropbox-blames-other-services-for-claimed-7-million-password-hack-7000034629/">220 million that Dropbox services</a>, that's no consolation for the folks whose logins have been compromised.&nbsp;</p><p>Just after contending with a <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/dropbox-sync-glitch-results-in-lost-data-for-some-subscribers-7000034610/">Selective Sync glitch that errantly deleted user files</a>, Dropbox finds itself at the center of another data integrity issue. But this time, the company says, it’s not to blame. In a statement to The Next Web, the cloud storage provider flat-out denied that it was hacked. Instead, it pointed the finger at third-party services:</p><blockquote><p>Dropbox has not been hacked. These usernames and passwords were unfortunately stolen from other services and used in attempts to log in to Dropbox accounts. We’d previously detected these attacks and the vast majority of the passwords posted have been expired for some time now. All other remaining passwords have been expired as well.</p></blockquote><p>The <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/2j5xkw/has_dropbox_been_hacked_passwords_dumped_on/">Reddit community set about checking</a> if the logins were legitimate, and some members claimed that, while several were expired, some others still appeared to be valid as of late Monday night.&nbsp;</p><h2>How To Safeguard Yourself</h2><p>Some Dropbox users may notice a prompt or message from the company, urging them to change their passwords or turn on two-factor authentication, a secondary measure that requires entering a six-digit security code in addition to login credentials.&nbsp;</p><p>But whether you see the warning or not, you would still be wise to take action. It's better to be safe than sorry.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.dropbox.com">Log into your Dropbox account</a> and <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/account#security">change your password</a>. (For tips on choosing good ones, <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/04/20/how-to-guard-yourself-against-heartbleed-step-by-step">click here</a>.) On the same page, you can switch on two-step verification. For more information about this extra step,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/363">check out Dropbox's description here</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>Once you’ve secured your Dropbox account, take one more step and think about anywhere else you may have used the same username and password combo. You'll want to change those too—and then vow never to use the same credentials in multiple places again. Once logins are out in the open, other parties can try them at various sites, from Facebook and Gmail to the major online banking sites. Automated bots would make very easy work of this.&nbsp;</p><p>As for this breach, ReadWrite has contacted Dropbox for more information, and will update this post if the company responds.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Update:</strong> Dropbox&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.dropbox.com/2014/10/dropbox-wasnt-hacked/">posted a message on its blog</a>&nbsp;stating&nbsp;that the logins were "stolen from unrelated services." Unlike Snapchat, whose <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/10/13/snapchat-snapsaved-nude-photo-leak">data breach stemmed from other services</a> using its APIs to connect with it, Dropbox chalks this one up to a much more mundane reason: people using the same password on different services.&nbsp;</p><p>The company says the attackers just kept trying the logins at various sites, including its own:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>Recent news articles claiming that Dropbox was hacked aren’t true. Your stuff is safe. The usernames and passwords referenced in these articles were stolen from unrelated services, not Dropbox. Attackers then used these stolen credentials to try to log in to sites across the internet, including Dropbox. We have measures in place to detect suspicious login activity and we automatically reset passwords when it happens.</p><p>Attacks like these are one of the reasons why we strongly encourage users not to reuse passwords across services. For an added layer of security, we always recommend enabling <a href="https://blog.dropbox.com/2014/10/have-you-enabled-two-step-verification/">2 step verification</a> on your account.</p><p><strong>Update: 10/14/2014 12:30am PT</strong></p><p>A subsequent list of usernames and passwords has been posted online. We’ve checked and these are not associated with Dropbox accounts.</p></blockquote>Change your Dropbox logins. Now.http://readwrite.com/2014/10/13/dropbox-leaks-7-million-logins-reddit
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/13/dropbox-leaks-7-million-logins-redditCloudMon, 13 Oct 2014 23:28:57 -0700Adriana LeeJennifer Lawrence Speaks! (About That iCloud Breach, That Is)<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01bc9900b001c80a" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI1MTQzMTE0OTM4NjQyNDAy.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Jennifer Lawrence, one of the victims of an iCloud hack that leaked nude images of female celebrities, is finally speaking out about the massive violation of privacy she experienced.</p><p>"Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense," Lawrence, the <em>Hunger Games</em>&nbsp;actress, says in a <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/2014/10/jennifer-lawrence-cover">forthcoming&nbsp;<em>Vanity Fair</em>&nbsp;interview</a>. "You should cower with shame."</p><blockquote><p><strong>See Also:&nbsp;<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/02/celebrity-photo-leak-apple-icloud-victim-blaming-slut-shaming">For Once, The Entire Internet Isn't Blaming The Victims Of This Nude Celebrity Photo Leak</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>In late August, <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/02/celebrity-photo-leak-apple-icloud-victim-blaming-slut-shaming">someone accessed iCloud accounts</a> of numerous female celebrities and distributed their private photos to 4chan and Reddit in what some online jokers called "the fappening," riffing off the <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fap">slang term for masturbation</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>The images circulated widely, sparking a conversation around Internet privacy and security, as well as <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/02/celebrity-photo-leak-apple-icloud-victim-blaming-slut-shaming">blatant Internet sexism</a> and the often toxic anonymous communities that thrive on 4chan and Reddit.</p><p>Apple denied any iCloud security breach, instead blaming it on a "very targeted attack" by a person or people who presumably managed to guess or brute-force private login information for various users. After the compromising photos were leaked online, Apple <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/05/apple-increase-security-post-icloud-leak">promised to tighten security</a> and better educate users on how iCloud actually works.</p><p>Apple may not have been directly responsible for the breach, but it happened, in part, because <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/03/apple-icloud-nude-photo-theft-two-factor-authentication">it can be confusing and difficult to protect your personal data</a> in iCloud.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See Also:&nbsp;<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/03/apple-icloud-nude-photo-theft-two-factor-authentication">How Apple Made Its Users Vulnerable To iCloud Theft</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Unlike <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/jennifer-lawrence-ariana-grande-picture-leak#2dcjnsf">other celebrities</a> who spoke out condemning the attack, Lawrence—arguably the best-known of the bunch—remained silent. But in the <em></em><em>Vanity Fair</em>&nbsp;cover story<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/2014/10/jennifer-lawrence-cover"></a>, she blames sites like 4chan for what she calls a "sex crime."</p><p>"It is not a scandal,” she says according to a summary prepared by the magazine. “It is a sex crime.&nbsp;It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change."</p><p>"That’s why these Web sites are responsible," Lawrence continues. "Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside.”</p><p><em>Lead photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/9358131476">Gage Skidmore</a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/9355240843"></a></em></p>"It's a sex crime."http://readwrite.com/2014/10/07/jennifer-lawrence-icloud-breach-photos
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/07/jennifer-lawrence-icloud-breach-photosWebTue, 07 Oct 2014 13:15:08 -0700Selena LarsonReddit Raises $50 Million, Says Community Will Get Some Shares<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01bbdb9000019512" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI0OTM0ODI1MTMwOTEzNzYy.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Reddit, one of the most popular sites on the Internet for sharing news, memes, and stories of inspiration, has <a href="http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/fundraising-for-reddit.html">raised $50 million in funding</a>, and members of the community, known as "redditors," might be getting a piece of it.</p><p>People on Reddit have made the site the massive success it is today—it's played an integral role in spotting Internet trends long before the masses do. So Reddit CEO Yishan Wong <a href="http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/fundraising-for-reddit.html">said in a blog post</a> that investors are prepared to give 10% of their shares back to community members. How, exactly, that works remains to be seen.&nbsp;</p><p>Of course, the Reddit community isn't entirely PG. Recently, the site was home to a subreddit—Reddit slang for a mini community—called The Fappening, which was dedicated to dispersing nude photos of celebrities stolen from their iCloud accounts. It took a week for Reddit to&nbsp;<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/08/reddit-shuts-down-stolen-celebrity-photo-forum-fappening">shut down</a> The Fappening.&nbsp;</p><p>Y Combinator president Sam Altman led the funding round. He&nbsp;<a href="http://recode.net/2014/09/30/reddit-raises-50m-plans-to-share-stock-with-community-members/">told Recode</a> he disagreed with how the company handled the iCloud breach, but said that "their heart is in the right place." Hopefully the same can be said for the community investors are giving shares to.</p><p>Other investors include Peter Thiel, Ron Conway, Paul Buchheit, Jared Leto, Jessica Livingston, Kevin and Julia Hartz, Mariam Naficy, Josh Kushner, Calvin Broadus Jr. (Snoop Dogg), and Yishan Wong.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/24/how-to-host-a-reddit-ama">How To Host A Reddit AMA</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Wong said that although Reddit is now flush with cash, the company is staying humble, and if anything, the fundraise means the company with more than 60 employees needs to work harder.</p><p>"An investment like this doesn't mean we're rich or successful," he wrote.&nbsp;</p><p>The money will be used to staff up product development and community management teams, as well as to work with third-party developers to increase the company's mobile presence. Reddit recently launched its first official mobile application, an <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/24/how-to-host-a-reddit-ama">AMA app</a> for the site's popular "Ask Me Anything" question and answer sessions.</p><p>Prior to this raise, Reddit raised a $100,000 seed round from Y Combinator back in 2005.</p><p><em>Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/evablue/5283405494">Eva Blue</a></em></p>Money for mobile apps and other improvements.http://readwrite.com/2014/09/30/reddit-rasies-50-million
http://readwrite.com/2014/09/30/reddit-rasies-50-millionSocialTue, 30 Sep 2014 13:09:37 -0700Selena LarsonHow To Host A Reddit AMA<!-- tml-version="2" --><p>Between hacked celebrity nude photos and an active men's rights community, there is one bright spot on Reddit that no bad press can dim: the Reddit AMA.&nbsp;Short for “Ask Me Anything,” it’s a popular Q&amp;A format on the social website Reddit.</p><p>Everyone from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/">President Obama</a>&nbsp;and K-pop star&nbsp;<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/120oqd/i_am_south_korean_singer_rapper_composer_dancer/">Psy</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;Sir Tim Berners-Lee, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2091d4/i_am_tim_bernerslee_i_invented_the_www_25_years/">inventor of the World Wide Web</a>&nbsp;took to thee AMA platform to answer audience questions. Reddit's huge community is the perfect hype machine for promoting a new movie, a product release, or a lagging political campaign.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2012/08/29/i-am-a-president-obamamania-shuts-down-reddit"><strong>I Am A President — Obamamania Shuts Down Reddit</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>Redditors have been doing AMAs since <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/ama-how-a-weird-internet-thing-became-a-mainstream-delight/282860/">at least May 2009</a>, when a community called r/iAMA—as in "I am a"—was founded. The practice has caught on quickly in the last few years, with 6.154 million subscribers to the r/IAMA subreddit, what Reddit calls subcommunities on its service. Reddit recently capitalized on the AMA’s success with a <a href="http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/announcing-official-reddit-ama-app_2.html">new app</a> specifically for viewing the /r/IAMA community.</p><p>However, the AMA format isn’t just for big shots. It’s for anyone with something to say that audiences want to hear. You don’t have to be the president to have a popular AMA; some of the <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/top/">top AMAs of all time</a> (as voted by users) include a person who fought a bear and survived and a man with double the usual amount of genitalia.</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/08/05/curiosity-mars-rover-reddit-ama"><strong>Ask Curiosity Anything: Mars Rover Takes Reddit Questions </strong></a></p></blockquote><p>“Some of our favorite AMAs have been by people whose interesting expertise or life experiences have made their AMAs absolutely captivating—from the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1pe2bd/iama_vacuum_repair_technician_and_i_cant_believe/">vacuum cleaner repair technician</a> to the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1y5jta/iama_dangerous_spider_handler_ama/">dangerous spider handler</a>, your stories are absolutely welcome on /r/IAMA,” Reddit spokesperson Victoria Taylor told ReadWrite.</p><p>Still, not all AMAs are created equal, and some are definitely more interesting and better attended than others. If you’re thinking of organizing an AMA for yourself or your company, here are some suggestions for making it a good one. </p><h2>Organize With Moderators</h2><p>It isn’t against the rules to show up unannounced for an AMA. But if you want the best experience possible, you’ll arrange it with the subreddit moderators in advance. </p><p>This will help you verify your AMA more quickly. Every person who submits an AMA is required to send proof to the moderators, whether they are claiming to be an employee of a particular company or even somebody with cancer.&nbsp;</p><div tml-image="ci01a87e1f8018860f" tml-image-caption="Gillian Anderson and David Duchovney's proof photo for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1oad13/gillian_anderson_here_ive_brought_david_duchovny/&quot;&gt;their AMA&lt;/a&gt;." tml-render-size="medium" tml-render-position="right"><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI0NzUwNTMwMjMxNzA1Njcy.jpg" /><figcaption>Gillian Anderson and David Duchovney's proof photo for &lt;a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1oad13/gillian_anderson_here_ive_brought_david_duchovny/"&gt;their AMA&lt;/a&gt;.</figcaption></figure></div><p>Usually, proof takes the form of a tweet from the person's official Twitter account, which is already verified. Peter Dinklage recorded Reddit <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/22sber/i_am_peter_dinklage_you_probably_know_me_as/">a video</a>. The man with two penises took a picture—I'll let you guess what the photo was of.&nbsp;</p><p>This may sound harsh, but back before proof was required, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/kl83r/iama_from_the_kid_with_cancer_has_been_removed/">a supposed kid with cancer</a> scammed a lot of redditors for money. Moderators first got suspicious when the AMA host, a 17-year-old, said he did not own a camera in any form. Soon, after the hoaxer posted a link to his music site with a request for donations, moderators took the entire thing down. Since then, <a href="http://www.quora.com/Which-AMA-threads-on-Reddit-were-proven-to-be-fake">dozens of AMAs have been proven to be fake</a>, but it happens far less of the time now that proof is always required.&nbsp;</p><p>As a result, redditors are wary of asking questions on an AMA thread that isn’t verified yet. If your AMA is not verified immediately, people may lose interest.</p><p>In some cases, moderators can also put your AMA on the calendar for people to look forward to. The general rule is that if there’s a Wikipedia page associated with your name, company’s name, book, etc., then it’s considered an AMA that’s noteworthy enough for the calendar. </p><p>Another benefit of letting the moderators know when you’re arriving is that one of them can budget time to keep an eye on your AMA for trolls and irrelevant questions. Only moderators have the power to delete questions or ban users, even if they’re derailing your AMA. </p><p>By the way, the moderators of r/IAMA aren’t the only administrators you could reach out to in advance. If you don’t think your story is general interest, you can also consider submitting it to the moderators of another subreddit aside from r/IAMA. Speaking personally, when I was promoting my book about anime, the more logical choice for my AMA was r/anime. Since there’s a subreddit for virtually every topic, there’s one for your interests, too. </p><h2>Be Authentic</h2><p>AMA questions answered in a genuine voice—versus a stiff facade—can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful AMA, Taylor said.</p><div tml-image="ci01b52904c729860c" tml-image-caption="Bill Gates offering proof on Reddit.&amp;nbsp;" tml-render-size="medium" tml-render-position="left"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIzMDQ5NjY1MzIwNDIwODc2.jpg" /><figcaption>Bill Gates offering proof on Reddit.&amp;nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div><p>Bill Gates peppered his AMA with goofy anecdotes and "dad jokes," kidding that people give him "<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/c8dcq9w">free software</a>" for his birthday every year. As one of the world's most powerful men, Gates has a reputation to protect. But by acting down to Earth, he well may have improved it.&nbsp;</p><p>Redditors don’t want canned corporate answers, they want honesty and humor. So if your organization won’t let you be yourself, divulge details, and answer questions about whether you’d prefer to fight <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/horse-sized-duck">100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck</a> and generally act like a human being, your AMA probably won’t go well.</p><p>It’s reasonable that companies are worried about answering the hardballs. However, recent AMAs have shown that tough questions can turn into opportunities. You’d think the Internet Explorer team would have had a hard time of it during <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2dk60t/we_build_internet_explorer_i_know_right_ask_us/">their recent AMA</a>, given the browser’s reputation. Instead, team members were open and frank about their problems. </p><p>"I remember a particularly long email thread where numerous people were passionately debating [the IE name],"&nbsp;Microsoft engineer <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2dk60t/we_build_internet_explorer_i_know_right_ask_us/cjq97tl">Jonathan Sampson</a>&nbsp;divulged. "Plenty of ideas get kicked around about how we can separate ourselves from negative perceptions that no longer reflect our product today.”</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: </strong><a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/08/18/microsoft-internet-explorer-web-browsers-windows-reddit-ama"><strong>Internet Explorer Struggles To Outrun Its Bad Reputation</strong></a></p></blockquote><p>The way Reddit works is that the questions the most people would like an answer to are upvoted to the top of the page. You should at least make an effort to answer the most popular questions, even if it surprises you to see what your audience is most interested in knowing.</p><p>Obviously, you shouldn’t answer downright hostile questions. And indeed, answering hostile questions poorly is going to do more harm than good. When a redditor linked&nbsp;Toronto City Council candidate Paul Alves to Rob Ford, <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/world/canada/2014/08/31/candidate-demonstrates-the-absolute-wrong-way-handle-reddit-ama/z1MhVyu6bIdRZnvVwnEPSJ/story.html">Alves went off the deep end</a>:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>"Slander, in it’s [sic] purest form. Do you happen to work for the [Alves opponent] Ana Bailao campaign? What’s your motive?&nbsp;You do know you can be identified by reddit account and slander is illegal, yes?"</p></blockquote><p>Alves ended up deleting his Reddit account. His AMA, minus his own words, is <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/2eztva/my_name_is_paul_alves_and_im_running_in_ward_18/">still online</a>.</p><p>Getting so riled up by your questioners that you threaten to sue them is always a bad idea.&nbsp;But an AMA where you reply to only the lightest of softballs won’t give an audience much reason to stick around. </p><h2>Make Time</h2><p>Reddit suggests putting aside 60 to 90 minutes for your AMA.</p><div tml-image="ci01b52904c739860c" tml-image-caption="Benedict Cumberbatch's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1o8l5f/i_am_benedict_cumberbatch_ama&quot;&gt;proof photo&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;" tml-render-size="medium" tml-render-position="right"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTE5NDg0MDYzODgzNzU3MDcx.jpg" /><figcaption>Benedict Cumberbatch's &lt;a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1o8l5f/i_am_benedict_cumberbatch_ama"&gt;proof photo&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;</figcaption></figure></div><p>Don’t expect to be able to get anything else done in that time. Even if you’re not a celebrity, the r/IAMA community is enormous and you could get hundreds of questions in that window. One way to take the pressure off of yourself might be to write in the initial AMA prompt, “I will be here from X to X time, and do my best to answer everything I can!”</p><p>Even as questions start coming at you from all directions, you don’t want to rush. One word answers aren’t very helpful to your audience. Your AMA will be more popular with fewer longer, heartfelt answers than hundreds of short ones.</p><p>Neil DeGrasse Tyson <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/mateq/i_am_neil_degrasse_tyson_ama/">engaged his AMA audience exceptionally well</a>, and kept it going for several hours. Each time he answered a commenter's science question, Tyson tweeted the fact from his <a href="https://twitter.com/neiltyson">official Twitter account</a>, simultaneously verifying his identity while drawing in an increasingly large number of audience members.</p><p>Remember, this is about engaging your audience, and maybe even growing it. Respond to people’s questions the way you like to be spoken to. Otherwise, Taylor suggests, maybe an AMA isn’t the right option for your brand.</p><p>“We encourage sharing long, in-depth answers—or at the very least, answers that defy people's expectations and that create a real conversation,” she said. “If a brand does want to engage, we recommend utilizing our dedicated brand space to launch content or supporting the community through <a href="https://www.reddit.com/advertising">advertising</a>.”</p><p>The AMA can be a powerful tool for sharing your story, but it also has a very specific set of etiquette. Redditors don’t want to advertise for you, they want to talk to you. If you can’t work with moderators, be authentic, and make time, it doesn’t matter how important you are.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Lead photo via the White House. All other photos via their respective Reddit AMAs.</em></p>Let your audience ask you anything.http://readwrite.com/2014/09/24/how-to-host-a-reddit-ama
http://readwrite.com/2014/09/24/how-to-host-a-reddit-amaWebWed, 24 Sep 2014 06:00:00 -0700Lauren OrsiniReddit Shuts Down Stolen Celebrity Photo Forum<!-- tml-version="2" --><p>Within hours of stating it would not shut down one of the major forums sharing nude celebrity photos, Reddit did just that.&nbsp;</p><p>Yishan Wong wrote in <a href="http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/every-man-is-responsible-for-his-own.html">a Saturday blog post </a>that the site would not shut down the r/thefappening (where fap is slang for masturbation), one of the major distribution points for the photos, or other questionable forums.&nbsp;</p><p>Reddit removed the stolen celebrity photos soon after the leak, and according to Wong, Reddit’s employees “deplore the theft of these images and we do not condone their widespread distribution,” but was “unlikely to make changes” in spite of that.&nbsp;</p><p>“[W]e consider ourselves … the government of a new type of community. The role and responsibility of a government differs from that of a private corporation, in that it exercises restraint in the usage of its powers.”</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/08/13/reddit-rules-for-journalists-buzzfeed">Is Reddit Dropping The Ban Hammer On BuzzFeed?</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>However, Reddit was compelled to recede on its position and ban r/thefappening anyway. “What happened is that we wrote the blog post, and at approximately the same time, activity in that subreddit starting violating other rules we have which do trigger a ban, so we banned it,” Wong explained in an addendum to the blog post<strong>.</strong></p><p>Predictably, the two events occurring at the same time caused a lot of confusion for Reddit’s users. Reddit employees worked to dispel them in a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_to_talk/">lengthy Q&amp;A thread</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>Jason Harvey (aka alienth), Reddit’s senior system administrator, wrote an introduction to the thread where he emphasized “the press and nature of this incident obviously made this issue extremely public, but it was not the reason why we did what we did.”&nbsp;</p><p>However, redditors were skeptical. The <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/2fpdax/time_to_talk/ckbga2v">top comment</a> brings up another subreddit that featured sexualized images of minors, which Reddit only <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/society/reddit-r-jailbait-shutdown-controversy/">banned in 2011</a> after it became CNN’s Anderson Cooper's pet project.&nbsp;</p><p>“You're doing the exact same thing you do every time there's bad press. Deal with it at the last possible moment once there's bad press forcing you to do so. Then you play it off like some moral revelation and use free speech as the reason why it doesn't set a precedent.”</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/09/03/4chan-dmca-apple-icloud-nude-photos-leak-copyright">4chan Will Now Remove Awful Images—If They're Copyrighted</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>Reddit isn’t the only website attempting to wash its hands of this incident. Forum site 4chan, where the images are rumored to have originated, set up a new Digital Millennium Copyright Act <a href="http://www.4chan.org/legal">policy page</a> in the wake of the crime. Likewise, the Prostate Cancer Foundation rejected r/thefappenings’ donations to their cause, <a href="http://www.pcf.org/site/c.leJRIROrEpH/b.9200789/k.C50B/Prostate_Cancer_Foundation_Response_Statement_to_Reddit_Post.htm">stating</a> “we would never condone raising funds for cancer research in this manner.”</p><p><em>Photo by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/evablue/">Eva Blue</a></em></p>Hours after defending its reasons to keep it up.http://readwrite.com/2014/09/08/reddit-shuts-down-stolen-celebrity-photo-forum-fappening
http://readwrite.com/2014/09/08/reddit-shuts-down-stolen-celebrity-photo-forum-fappeningSocialMon, 08 Sep 2014 07:44:24 -0700Lauren OrsiniIs Reddit Dropping The Ban Hammer On BuzzFeed?<!-- tml-version="2" --><p>Reddit rolled out some rules on Tuesday targeting "viral" websites like BuzzFeed that traffic in listicles and other material plundered from Reddit users' posts. &nbsp;</p><p>Want to cut and paste that amusing post about the dude who trolled a crying kid by <a href="http://np.reddit.com/r/offmychest/comments/2cm5xt/am_i_a_bad_person_for_this/">buying all the McDonald's apple pies</a>&nbsp;and guarantee some quick clicks on your website? Need more examples illustrate your <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/Goatparkour/">goat parkour photo essay</a>?&nbsp;That's cool, according to Reddit. Just ask first.&nbsp;</p><div tml-image="ci01b7298a66f5860e" tml-image-caption="" tml-render-size="small" tml-render-position="right"><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIxNDI3Mjk1MjY5MTI3Njkz.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>The <a href="http://www.reddit.com/wiki/pressiquette">new Reddit guidelines</a>,&nbsp;pointed out by the&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/499556427372183552">New York Times’ Mike Isaac</a>, are directed at journalists who use the “front page of the Internet” as a source for trending news, information and photos.</p><p>The guidelines, called “pressiquette,” short for "press etiquette," request that reporters ask the original poster—the "redditor," or Reddit user," in the site's distinctive language—for permission to use anything posted on Reddit.&nbsp;</p><p>Journalists are also advised to search the Internet to make sure it’s an original photo. “Reposts,” or posts of someone else’s work that’s been uploaded by another individual are quite common on Reddit, and it can be difficult to determine who owns the actual photo. One more complication: Reddit doesn’t host photos, just links to them, so the company suggests asking people directly through the image-hosting sites they use, such as Imgur.</p><blockquote><p>If you see an interesting story or photo on Reddit, message the redditor who shared the piece to ask for their permission prior to using it in an article or list, ask how they would like it to be attributed, and provide them a deadline before you move on to another story. Please respect redditors who may wish to stay anonymous, or to not be featured in an article.</p></blockquote><p>Notably, these rules arrived shortly after BuzzFeed—which built its media empire on cute animal content cut and pasted from online communities such as Reddit—<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/upshot/why-buzzfeed-is-trying-to-shift-its-strategy.html?_r=0">received a $50 million investment</a>&nbsp;on its future.</p><p>It’s unclear how Reddit will enforce these new guidelines, but if reporters do abide by the new rules, it will be quite time consuming to write blogs like “<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/21-questionable-back-to-school-shopping-items">21 Questionable Back To School Shopping Items.</a>”</p><p><em>Image via Flickr user&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/evablue/">Eva Blue</a></em></p>Ask permission before using our stuff, says Reddit.http://readwrite.com/2014/08/13/reddit-rules-for-journalists-buzzfeed
http://readwrite.com/2014/08/13/reddit-rules-for-journalists-buzzfeedSocialWed, 13 Aug 2014 09:16:17 -0700Selena LarsonThe Reddit "Cat Facts" Prank Is Now An Amazingly Annoying App<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b2828fb0028266" tml-image-caption="&lt;em&gt;Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Cat-Facts-Prank-App-35378949&quot;&gt; PopSugar Tech&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Facebook-Photo-Search-Privacy-35313892&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;"><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAzNjkyNDYzNDQwNDg2.jpg" /><figcaption>&lt;em&gt;Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at&lt;a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Cat-Facts-Prank-App-35378949"&gt; PopSugar Tech&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Facebook-Photo-Search-Privacy-35313892"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;</figcaption></figure></div><p>A <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/owx3v/so_my_little_cousin_posted_on_fb_that_he_was/">classic Reddit troll</a> has now been turned into the greatest cat-related prank app of all time. Say hello (kitty) to <a href="http://www.catfacts.co/">Cat Facts</a> (free with in-app purchases, Android), which is designed to drive your friends mad with constant, never-ending bits of information about your favorite furry friends.</p><div tml-image="ci01a87e1f1e71860f" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIxNDI3Mjk1MTM2NjEzOTAx.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Two years ago, Reddit user <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/owx3v/so_my_little_cousin_posted_on_fb_that_he_was/">frackyou</a> noticed that a little cousin had posted his new phone number on Facebook. So frackyou, bored, decided to send a stream of persistent texts from a "cat bot." It went a little something like this:</p><p><strong>Cat Bot</strong>: "Please let us know you are human to cancel by completing the following sentence: Your favorite animal is the [blank]."</p><p><strong>Cousin</strong>: "Dog."</p><p><strong>Cat Bot</strong>: "INCORRECT. Your favorite animal is the cat. You will continue to receive Cat Facts every &lt;hour&gt;."</p><p><strong>Cat Bot</strong>: "Please let us know you are human to cancel by completing the following sentence: Your favorite animal is the [blank]."</p><p><strong>Cousin</strong>: "Cat."</p><p><strong>Cat Bot</strong>: "INCORRECT. You said your favorite animal is the &lt;dog&gt;. You will continue to receive &lt;hourly&gt; Cat Facts."</p><p>So go ahead, troll all of your friends and frenemies. And let this be a lesson to you all: be careful of what you post on Facebook!</p><div tml-image="ci01a33b7bc1aa860e" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTE5NTU2MzIzNjg1NTMzMTk1.jpg" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p><strong>More stories from PopSugar Tech:</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/How-Make-GIF-From-YouTube-Video-35331408#opening-slide">Lazy People Everywhere: Make A GIF Using YouTube</a><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Facebook-Proposal-35142984"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Facebook-Photo-Search-Privacy-35313892">Thought Your Facebook Photos Were Private? Think Again</a><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/New-Marvel-Thor-Woman-35249542#opening-slide"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Kim-Kardashian-Hollywood-Game-Review-35278839">The 20 Stages Of Playing The Kim Kardashian Video Game</a><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Comcast-Cable-Complaints-35261074#opening-slide"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Phone-Burns-Under-Pillow-35349860">True Story: Smartphone Catches Fire After Girl Sleeps With It Under Pillow</a><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/App-Monitors-Driving-35207870"></a></p><p><a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/OkCupid-Experiment-35353695">OkCupid Experimented On Its Users, Has No Regret</a><a href="http://www.popsugar.com/tech/Latest-Batman-Comics-News-35325575#opening-slide"></a></p><p><em>Lead image by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnykeelty/462802956">Flickr user Jonathan Keelty</a>, CC 2.0</em></p>Flood your friends with feline facts.http://readwrite.com/2014/08/04/reddit-cat-facts-prank-apps
http://readwrite.com/2014/08/04/reddit-cat-facts-prank-appsWebMon, 04 Aug 2014 06:00:00 -0700Nicole NguyenImgur Is Trying Flickr's Old Recipe For Photo Search<!-- tml-version="2" --><p><strong></strong></p><p>You may not have heard of&nbsp;<a href="http://imgur.com/">Imgur</a>, but the site serves 5 million images a day to an audience of <a href="http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/imgur-growing-pains.html">130 million visitors a month</a>. And its popularity among viral meme makers is both its strength and its weakness.</p><p>“It’s almost like, before, one big firehose of images came through the site,” said CEO Alan Schaaf. “There was no way to slice it—you just got bombarded with everything.”</p><p>Schaaf is changing that. On Thursday morning, Imgur (pronounced "image-er") is <a href="http://imgur.com/blog/2014/07/16/imgur-redesigned-tagging-custom-galleries-and-trends/">unveiling a new tagging system</a>—and putting you to work solving its biggest problem.</p><p>Tags—simple, topical text labels—for online images are nothing new. The way Flickr put its community of photographers to work labeling each others' work was a <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2005/12/01/8364623/">major reason why Yahoo bought it back in 2005</a>.</p><p>Imgur users can now categorize all the images that make their way onto the site by tagging them. The most relevant tags for an image will be decided by consensus. And once those tags are in place, users will be able to track and follow a tag of choice—just like you do on Tumblr, Pinterest and Twitter.</p><p>(On some sites, tags are known as "hashtags" because the convention there is to use a hash mark—"#"—before a tag. Imgur isn't using hashtags.)</p><p>Where Imgur does Tumblr and other sites that offer tag-based feeds one better is its combinations of tags. Where Tumblr might let you follow "cute" or "kitten," Imgur lets you track those tags together, so you can see images labeled with both. You can also filter out tags you don’t want to see. </p><p>For example, Schaaf has a custom Game of Thrones gallery that tracks “got,” “Game Of Thrones,” and each character’s name. He knows the results he gets will be accurate, since Imgur users are voting on the tags. Meanwhile, another user might want to filter out these tags in order to avoid spoilers from the latest episode. Now, each user can choose to sample the gush of the Imgur firehose however he or she prefers</p><h2>Thanks, Folksonomy</h2><p>This human-powered way of organizing the Web, dubbed a "<a href="http://many.corante.com/archives/2004/08/25/folksonomy.php">folksonomy</a>" a decade ago, stands in contrast to the machine-driven image analysis companies like Google and Facebook are known for.</p><p>Imgur, long known for its stripped-down approach to image uploading and viewing, isn’t doing anything groundbreaking. But its choice to pursue people power over the increasingly advanced computational approaches available to it is interesting.</p><p>When asked to explain, Schaaf gave me the example of a <a href="http://imgur.com/gallery/obG4JWq">black, red, and yellow layered cocktail</a>. It was a popular image when Imgur tested tagging with a small group of users. Most testers, recognizing the festive drink's connection to German soccer fans, correctly tagged it with “Germany” and “World Cup.”</p><p>“It’s about Germany and soccer as well as drinks, but a computer would only recognize the drink part,” he said. “It would never guess it’s related to the World Cup.”</p><div tml-image="ci01b5290433f7860c" tml-image-caption="Photo via Imgur" tml-render-size="medium" tml-render-position="right"><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTE5NTU2MzIyNzQ1MzUzNzM5.jpg" /><figcaption>Photo via Imgur</figcaption></figure></div><p>Since Schaaf founded the site roughly five years ago out of his dorm room, the site has found a lot of popularity with users of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.reddit.com">Reddit</a>, another site where users vote to find the most interesting articles and images online.</p><p>Imgur's learning from Reddit's flaws—for example, the way the site forces people to pick a single section, or subreddit, of the site when posting a link. Tim Hwang, director of special projects at Imgur, said it was important to find a tagging solution that would unite the community instead of fragment it. With multiple tags, images can fit into to several galleries instead of just a single designated one. </p><p>“We could have a ‘cat images’ category, but then people would identify with the ‘cat’ subgallery, or start forming rules around certain subgalleries that specified what kind of cat pictures were OK,” he said. “Tagging is something users can all do collectively.”</p><p>All Visual Web sites risk image overload. Without some way to discover specific images, like <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/04/24/pinterest-guided-search-discovery-ben-silbermann">Pinterest's guided search</a> or Imgur's new tags, users will only see the most popular stuff. That leads to a winner-take-all scenario where only images that make the homepage get seen. Schaaf’s goal is to help users expose the “dark matter” of Imgur that might get lost in the deluge. </p><p> “Whether they want to browse everything at once and filter out a couple of things, or drill down into a specific topic, people will make their own experience,” he said. </p>Tag! You're it.http://readwrite.com/2014/07/17/imgur-tags-visual-web
http://readwrite.com/2014/07/17/imgur-tags-visual-webWebThu, 17 Jul 2014 05:38:15 -0700Lauren Orsini